School News

SC Whitmore School Names Robin Carter 2018 Teacher of the Year

Columbia, SC – SC Whitmore School has named Robin Carter of Spartanburg the 2018 Teacher of the Year. Mrs. Carter, a science teacher at SCWS, has spent more than fifteen years as a teacher in nearly every type of instructional setting. She has worked at SCWS full-time since December of 2016.

Carter is a native of Montgomery, Alabama and received her undergraduate degree from Troy University and her master’s degree in Biology from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. The daughter of a lifelong teacher, Carter taught for three years in Georgia before moving to South Carolina to work at Clear Spring Girls’ Home, a residential treatment facility for at risk teenaged girls. She has since taught at J.L. Mann High School in Greenville as well as Greenville Technical College and Spartanburg Methodist College. Carter taught at the virtual school Palmetto State E-cademy for three years prior to beginning her tenure at SCWS in 2016.

Robin and her husband Brannon also run a small letter-press stationery company in Spartanburg called R&B Printery. They donate 10% of all annual profits to local literacy programs. Last year’s recipient was English Crossing, a faith-based non-profit that works to improve the reading, writing and speaking skills for those individuals in which English is not their first language. Past recipients have also included Pine Street Elementary School and Greenville/Spartanburg public libraries.

SCWS Principal John Loveday recommended Carter for the award and also recommended her for the South Carolina Public Charter School District’s Teacher of the Year Award.

“Since 2016 SC Whitmore School science teacher, Robin Carter, has made an incredible impact on our student body and overall school environment,” said Principal Loveday. “On a daily basis Robin brings her creativity and applies it to the consistent development of our school. This is done in various ways, including numerous vital improvements in our ACT Prep and Biology courses. From 2016 to 2017, SCWS witnessed a 176% increase in students completing and taking the Biology EOC – from 21 to 57 students. As further evidence of her effectiveness, Robin Carter’s Biology students are doing exceptionally well mastering the course content and the EOC exam. Robin Carter embodies everything that defines an effective teacher: compassion, empathy, intelligence, hard work and dedication.”

Robin Carter said she was grateful to SCWS for the honor.

“I am incredibly humbled to receive the Teacher of the Year Award from SCWS,” Carter said. “SCWS is an amazing school and I am surrounded by staff, administrators and students who make me enjoy the profession of teaching more and more every day. Education is an ever-evolving medium and the flexibility SCWS offers provides an experience that is freeing for the students and quite freeing for me as well. My teaching career has taken me to almost every type of school and instructional setting and SCWS is by far my favorite. I will use this honor as motivation to continue serving our great students to the best of my ability.”

Founded in 2011, SCWS is a tuition-free virtual public charter school offering a personalized mastery-based academic environment to students who don’t fit the traditional brick and mortar environment. For more information visit: scwhitmoreschool.org.

SC Whitmore School is public school authorized by the SC Public Charter School District. All 9-12 grade full-time students under the age of 21, who reside in SC and who can provide proof of SC residency, are eligible to attend SC Whitmore School.